Tempeh: The tried & tested

I’ve never blogged about food, have I? So congrats tempeh for being the star of the first ever food post in Mascaras & Motherhood! Tempeh (pronounced as “temp-pei”) which is widely available and beloved in Indonesia and Malaysia is a soy-based food. Here’s how the nutrition-lovers at Time describes tempeh:

Tempeh is a cake of partially cooked whole soybeans aged overnight in an incubator at a tropical temperature, explains vegan food manufacturer Tofurky on its website. During incubation, a “thick, white mat of mycelia”—a kind of fungus—branches over the tempeh, which binds the beans together. It’s then steamed and ready to eat.

In addition, the fermentation process of tempeh translates to the soy-protein of tempeh being easily digestible. In other words; tempeh is rich is probiotics, and probitics are good for the tummy.

All right, obviously I’m no nutrition expert. The reason I’m talking about tempeh here is because during my personal experience with my daughter Aida, tempeh as well as other probiotics-rich food helps in healing her eczema.Believe it or nor, eczema and digestive problem do come hand in hand. As her eczema worsened, her medication intake increased. And sooner, she had trouble every time she had to poo. Despite addressing this to her dermatologist back then, no specific solution was suggested for her constipation. Yes, I’ve tried forcing her to drink as much water as possible and yes, papayas were shoved to her mouth often. Still, she struggled and even dreaded when poo-poo time came. It breaks my heart to see her suffered doing what is supposed to be a very basic thing a human does on a daily basis.

It was after we tried something different that I learned about probiotics, prebiotics and fermented food. I might discuss the two Ps in the future but now let’s get back to tempeh. Firstly, tempeh is very cheap. It is also usually sold in any supermarkets and grocery shops. Malaysians love having their tempehs battered or deep-fried but please note that this means you won’t get the maximum of the nutrients a raw piece of tempeh cake can offer. Personally, I like tempeh both deep fried and raw. Aida on the other hand, as she was still so small when I first introduced tempeh to her, I either deep fry of grill her tempeh. My, does she loves tempeh! It’s her go to snack. It turns out, having food allergies does have a blessing; she snacks on healthy tempeh instead of highly-processed chocolates or candies.

Have you eaten tempeh before? How do you have your tempeh? Please share you thoughts in the comment section. Till then,